True Beauty: The Retelling of Rapunzel
by BittersweetHearts08
Summary: What if Rapunzel hated men climbing up her hair? What if She finally gave up and actually cut her own hair? Would the fairytale we all know and love still end happily ever after?


**A/N: I did this one-shot for a contest on and the prompt was tell your favorite fairytale with a twist in less than 2000 words. So here you are I hope you enjoy! Parts of it is just pure cheese and it's supposed to be that way so stick with it! It's a Fairytale, people! ^_^**

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True Beauty

By: Amanda Pate aka BittersweetHearts

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"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair, so that I may climb the golden stair." She heard a young man say from far below. She looked out the bricked window and down to where the voice came from. She could just make out his figure.

_Oh, great! It's another buff guy with heavy muscles._

She hated doing this. She had been stuck up in this tower for years! And every few days another man would come along wanting to climb up her hair in order to get to her –whom normally failed by the way. What she didn't get was what they were going to do when they got up there. There was no way down unless they had wings –which was highly unlikely.

She sighed in agitation and started scooping up her hair. People didn't normally know this, but hair was heavy! The worst part about 'letting down her hair' was letting it drop out the window; it practically gave her whiplash! But she would do it anyway.

She went to the window with her hair half in her arms and half dragging on the floor and called down, "What is your name, good sir?" She also hated these stupid formalities she always had to say. All thanks goes to that stupid enchantress, Dame Gothel!

"Prince Richard is my name, please let down your hair so that I might climb it and gaze upon your resplendent face!" She rolled her eyes at his superfluous words. Did he really think flattery would gain points with her? She baulked at his assumption.

She let down her hair in heaping mess and squinted her eyes, waiting for the pain of the tumbling gold strands. Her head jerked a little towards the window. Not too bad this time. She had become hard-headed since she had to do this at least 3 times a week. Word travels fast when it pertains to damsels in distress.

She braced herself for the man's weight as she felt him grab hold of her beautiful blond hair. "I am coming, Rapunzel!" The man announced –not like she couldn't feel it anyway.

"Sure, take your time, no hurry." She sarcastically replied though gritted teeth as he made his way up her hair.

Normally, men were quiet with concentration as they climbed her hair, but not this one. "Oh Rapunzel, how I have dreamt of you; you have haunted me not only in the daytime but in my sleeping hours as well. I cannot wait until I see your beautiful face!"

She hated these types of men. Men who only wanted to see her. Men who didn't care if she had just gotten sick this past week or wished that she had more books to read, for she had read the same book a dozen times over and guess what it was. Yep, you're right, an accumulative novel of all the Brothers Grimm stories. Needless to say, it got old after a while.

"Oh really? I'm so flattered." Rapunzel replied in a monotonous voice. There was a long pause when the man didn't say anything. Besides the pain in her head, this was the part that normally got extremely boring.

However, she was wrong and he started up again, "I have heard your beauty is greater than that of fair Snow White. Please tell me this is so."

"It is so." She replied shortly, annoyed by his over-mentioning her beauty.

"I have heard that your eyes are pools of blue sea that men can get lost in and the color of your lips are as red and as sweet as pomegranate nectar. Oh, how I long to gaze upon thy beauty and drink of its sweetness." He said in a wistful tone.

She had had enough! "Okay, what is wrong with you? Is my beauty all that really matters to you? Have you ever thought to ask how I even got up here in the first place? If I have any family that I miss? What my favorite flower is? And Heaven forbid, have you even thought to ask if I even want to see you?" She yelled out the window hoping her frustrated words reached his ears.

"But it is your beauty I have come all this way to gaze upon! I will ask those questions if only it will allow me to keep climbing your beautiful gold hair." He answered in a somewhat confused voice. This frustrated her even more. Dumb princes! It was like the country didn't even make them go to How to Charm Ladies 101 anymore.

She looked down the window to see how far the man had come. Surprisingly he was only 5 yards away. She couldn't have this. She couldn't let a man who only came to 'gaze upon her beauty' to actually be able to make it up into her tower. She gave an exasperated sigh and looked over at the red and gold box that sat on the small table near the window: it held one of the most dangerous weapons she had ever known existed. Scissors.

She opened the lid and lifted them reverently out of the box. Yes, this would do nicely. She spread the scissors' blades apart. She put the mouth close to her hair and asked, "Are all men like you, Prince Richard?"

"Most men are, or if they are not, they should be." He answered.

She gave a cynical grin to his reply, "Well, Prince Richard, if men are the way you say they are I have no further use for long hair." She cut away at one thick lock of blonde.

"Oh Rapunzel, what art thou doing?" He asked in a near state of panic as he heard the _snip_ of the scissors and felt parts of his 'rope' give way.

"I am getting rid of what I don't need. I don't need men who only want to 'gaze upon my beauty,' I want men that will not want to gaze upon my physical beauty, but the beauty that lies within my heart. That is where my beauty comes from." She snipped again at another rather large lock of hair.

"Oh Rapunzel, please at least let me catch a mere glimpse before you cut your hair further."

"If you want to get down safely, you will start your descent now." She replied coldly.

And he did. As soon as she felt no more weight tugging her hair she cut the rest of her golden strands and let it fall out the window onto the ground.

"Now, go and tell all the princes and men of the land that if they ever truly want to find beauty, do not search for it in the face of a lady, but search her heart, for that is where true beauty lies." She called aloud from her tower.

And word spread among the land that true beauty could not be found unless it was searched for within a heart.

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**A/N: This was soooooo much fun to write; I hope you enjoyed it!**

**This was written for MystikAngel's contest.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Rapunzel; she belongs to the Brothers Grimm.**

***This story belongs to Amanda Pate aka BittersweetHearts08 and in no way can this be redistributed without her permission.***


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